Matthew Perry

Matthew Perry Quick Links

Biography

Matthew Langford Perry (born on August 19, 1969) in Williamstown, Massachusetts. His parents divorced when he was less than a year old, and Perry moved with his mother, Suzanne, to her hometown of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, where Suzanne later worked as a press secretary for Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau.

A talented tennis player, Perry was ranked No. 2 among junior players in Canada when he was 13 years old. At virtually the same time, he discovered acting, earning his first applause for his role in a seventh-grade production called 'The Life and Death of Sneaky Fitch' When he was 15, Perry decided to move to Los Angeles to spend some time with his father, John Bennett Perry, an actor best known to audiences as the smooth-faced sailor on a series of commercials for Old Spice.

Soon after he lost his first big U.S. tennis match, his acting career kicked into gear when director William Richert spotted Perry in a Los Angeles restaurant and asked him to audition for his movie, 'A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon' (filmed in 1986; released 1988), starring River Phoenix. Perry landed the role, which marked his first significant professional acting experience.

The Hollywood film star played Chandler Bing's dad, Helena Handbasket, in the hit sitcom

One of the most iconic sitcoms of recent times came to an end a staggering 14 years ago as worldwide fans said goodbye to six FRIENDS and a whole host of other wondrful ancillary characters. However, it seems one actress who joined the cast on a recurring basis did not have the most friendliest time.

Perry is recovering at home after undergoing the emergency surgery earlier this week.

Actor and former ‘Friends’ star Matthew Perry is recovering after recently undergoing major abdominal surgery to “repair a gastrointestinal perforation”.

A representative for the 48 year old star told E! on Wednesday (August 8th) that Perry “recently underwent surgery in a Los Angeles hospital to repair a gastrointestinal perforation… He is grateful for the concern and asks for continued privacy as he heals.”

A gastrointestinal perforation is a hole in the wall of part of the gastrointestinal tract, and usually requires emergency surgery. Commonly, it’s called a ruptured bowel but can refer to a tear in the throat, stomach, small intestine, or large intestine. Symptoms include severe abdominal pain and tenderness, and can be caused by various factors such as Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis or appendicitis.

The actors who played Rachel's step-son, Ben, are now as old as actress Jennifer Aniston was when she starred in series one

Everyone loves the 90s hit sitcom Friends and it continues to garner new audiences with its permenant repeats on Comedy Central and now as a result of it being acquired by Netflix. With the fact it's always on the TV, it's easy to forget exactly how old it really is. But now, there's a handy reminder.

Now horrified fans of the hit ten season show have worked out the actors that played Ross Geller's son, Ben, are now the same age as Jennifer Aniston was in the first series. Doesn't it make you feel old?

Maggie Wheeler, the actress who played Chandler Bing’s on-off girlfriend Janice in ‘Friends’, has been discussing how her character’s infamous cackle came about. Appearing on ‘This Morning’, Wheeler, who doesn't actually talk like Janice, said the laugh came about “organically” during rehearsals.

Maggie Wheeler played Chandler’s girlfriend Janice in ‘Friends’

"It was just progression – how Janice evolved, how the writers created the character for me," Wheeler told hosts Eamon Holmes and Ruth Langsford. "So the laugh happened organically in the first rehearsal, because I needed to find a way to laugh, because Matthew Perry is so funny.”

A great TV mystery has finally been solved, as the man who was known to millions of ‘Friends’ viewers as Ugly Naked Guy has finally revealed himself (no, not in that way). After a year long search, Todd Van Luling from The Huffington Post tracked down the man whose face we never saw and confirmed his identity as actor Jon Haugen.

Perry revealed that his substance addiction was such that he can't remember filming several seasons of 'Friends'.

Matthew Perry has opened up about his past struggles with substance abuse, claiming that he has virtually no recollection of about three years of filming ‘Friends’ because of his addiction.

The 46 year old actor was interviewed on Chris Evan’s breakfast show on BBC Radio 2 last Friday (January 22nd), and when he was asked about his favourite and least favourite episodes of the hit show, in which he played the sarcastic Chandler Bing for ten years, he admitted that he had very little memory of some seasons.

London-based ‘Friends’ fans are in for a special treat next month as four-day festival celebrating the sitcom hits the capital. 'FriendsFest', which will take place at Brick Lane’s Boiler House will run from Wednesday 16th to Sunday 20th September and include original props and replica sets from the series.

The festival will feature a full scale replica of Monica’s apartment as well as a Central Perk themed cafe which will include its very own orange sofa for fans to get their groups photos on. There will also be a pop-up hair salon were you can go right back to the 90s with a Rachel Green inspired blow-dry

Given the first round of reviews, 'The Odd Couple' could be heading for a separation.

A remake of the classic sitcom and movie about two divorced men who become roommates even though they are polar opposites. Sounds dreadful doesn't it? 'Remake' is enough to send the alarm bells ringing but when you throw in the fact that what we're discussing here is Odd Couple - a remake of the Jack Lemon and Walter Matthau movie now starring Matthew Perry and Thomas Lennon - then that's when our palms begin to get clammy.

Matthew Perry has been looking to remake The Odd Couple for over 10 years

10 years on we look at what it was that made TV series 'Friends' so special.

We’re feeling pretty nostalgic (and old) because it’s been ten years since the final episode of Friends aired. We’d sort of been getting by on the hope that a reunion episode would take place, but mean Matt LeBlanc ruined that dream. The actor, who played Joey, recently said: “That show was about a finite period of time in life, after college and before your relationship and family starts and where your friends are your support system. That’s what the magic of the show was - everyone goes through that and can relate to that.”

The cast of Friends with Jay Leno [Photo: Getty images]

That wasn’t the only magic that Friends had. The reason that the show was so popular for so long was a combination of a dozen or so factors that just worked. The chemistry between the cast was palpable, you could just tell that Jennifer Aniston and Courtney Cox were best friends in real life and that translated onto their onscreen friendship.